How Effective is your Appraisal System?

A new challenge is upon us now that we are in 2014 and it’s the time of year when many organisations decide to complete their staff appraisals to help them prepare for the year ahead. But how effective is your company’s appraisal system?

For many businesses appraisals have become a paper exercise that result in the same process being completed without reviewing or developing the system. Many appraisal systems are overcomplicated and rely on the same questions asked each year even though the business and its employees have developed significantly. 

Over the past year the team at Tamar HR have been working with our clients to develop their appraisal and performance review systems. The most important thing is that the system needs to work for your business and it should be used as an opportunity to plan, develop and resolve the issues that are raised. An effective appraisal should be a 2 way process with feedback from each party to recognise good work and identify any short comings before working together to plan how to move forward.

Many of our clients have taken a new approach that we have developed known as a ‘Job Chat’ system. This is a streamlined and simple mechanism for recording key outcomes with your staff, which takes away a more rigid and prescriptive annual approach.  A Job Chat encourages regular engagement between managers and their team. It works by having a manager meet with each employee for a structured conversation that focuses on the key issues. The precise duration and timing of the Job Chat can be flexible depending on the needs of the business.  The Job Chat invites feedback from the employee about their job, the support they have received and their aspirations for the future. The manager also gets an opportunity to give feedback by recognising good work and identifying areas for improvement as required. It’s also a chance to share relevant information about future changes within the company if needed. The manager and employee then discuss and agree on an action plan focusing on what can be achieved before the next Job Chat. The benefit of this is that there is a shorter monitoring period before meeting up again to see how well things are progressing or if targets need to be amended.  It is designed to be a fluid system which supports positive action aligned to business priorities and objectives.

An effective appraisal system can help you to target support, training and challenge your team which could increase productivity and may also reduce your staff turnover in the process.  The benefit of good communication and engagement will help managers to understand the challenges staff face and how to maximise their contribution to the business. If you would like to take a different approach to your appraisal system this year, don’t hesitate to contact one of the team at Tamar HR to help you find a solution that works for your business.